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Anam Hasan

This book is pretty interesting, from bio plastic, inflated glass, to aerogel the lightest solid on earth (captures stardust by NASA), the book explores loads of materials i’ve never even heard of. Seemed like a very DS10 book.

The Institute for Computational Design (ICD) at the University of Stuttgart are collaborating on a new temporary research pavilion. The focus is on biomimetic design strategies for performative morphology in architecture, which form the basis of an investigation into integral structural, spatial and material systems.

As a first step physical models have been used to develop and refined the filament wrapping logic / syntax. In a first wrap (white yarn representing glass-fiber) the spatial enclosure of the pavilion is defined; in the subsequent wraps (black yarn / carbon-fibre) the fibres are placed according to the trajectories of the forces in the system. Through continuous wrapping and accretion of fibers a self-supporting and external load-bearing structure is generated.

Then the frame has been set up in a temporary weather enclosure during the time of fabrication.

During fabrication, the frame rotates while the robotic arm distribute the fibre.

More than 4 billion human brains are not connected to the global machine that is internet. The enormity of this divide is cause for concern. So how do we bridge this divide? India has the greatest disparity between total population and internet users out of all the countries in the world. The majority of users are located in urban areas, the rural parts are digitally disconnected.

By trying to include an exemplar rural community in West Bengal into the global digital network, we aimed to develop an architecture that considered India’s local resources and culture. By using Jute which is a vegetable fibre that is also the highest produced agricultural product in India, we intended to show-case the communities local materials and skills. India’s cultural symbol is represented by the spindle. We took the idea of the spindle to an architectural level by developing a spinning system that would create architecture and become the catalyst for the construction of a spillage (spun village).

The community’s internet inclusion would be manifested by the setup of a blog that would advertise the community and promote their growth by attracting tourists to come and visit the site. With the growth of the community the spaces would accommodate visitors and the site would become an ecotourism destination. Ultimately, this scheme was conceived to diffuse the ideologies beyond the borders of the community, spreading local ideas. This exemplar settlement would become a precursor for change in other communities across the developing world that have the right to the internet, unleashing a cornucopia of human thought!

Raspberry Pi is a micro computer the size of a credit card, its founder Eben Upton at Cambridge University designed it to be cheap enough to purchase for kids to learn about computers and programming, it can also be used for spreadsheets, word-processing and games and has the capability to play high-definition videos. The small computer retails at only $35 for Model B, which comes with an ethernet connection and $25 for Model A. Its a modular style of marketing a computer whereby the LCD screen, keyboard, mouse and SD card can all be bought as a kit for no more than $100. The computer is also powered from a mobile charger, or can run on 4xAA cells.

Jute is a vegetable fibre that comes from the Corchorus plant (also know as the golden fibre for its colour). India is the largest producer of Jute in the world. The jute is sewn between March and May each year and is harvested in October whereby the stems (which reach a height of up to 4m) of the plants are cut and then soaked in water to loosen the fibres for extraction, this process is known as retting. After the fibres have been extracted they are sun dried and hung ready to be used for packaging, wrapping, sacks, geotextiles- landfill covering, hessian cloths, pulp. Latest experiments even show that the waste produced in jute mills, known as jute caddy can be used effectively as fuel in power plants.

Estimates by the West Bengal Consultancy Organisation (Webcon) show that jute mills in the state together produce more that 70,000 tonnes of jute caddy annually, this wouls generate 7MW of power. “This would save 45,000 tonnes of coal for power generation,” claimed Asim Mahapatra, managing director of Webcon.

Below are some images by the Japanese artist Naoko Serino who works with Jute fibres to produce delicate and lightweight art.